East Africa media stakeholders attend workshop

4 May 2010

NAIROBI: UNESCO offices in Dar es Salaam, Nairobi and Bujumbura, together with the United Nations Communication Group in Tanzania and media stakeholders in the East-African region, have organised the commemoration of World Press Freedom Day 2010 in Zanzibar, Tanzania.

The two-day workshop, which started yesterday, 3 May 2010 discusses issues related to this year's theme Freedom of Information: the Right to Know. Several journalists and editors from mainland Tanzania, Zanzibar and Pemba islands are attending the commemorations. Participating organisations include the Tanzania Chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), the Eastern Africa Journalists Association (EAJA), the Forum of Mauritian Journalists, the Journalists' Unions of Burundi, Uganda, Ethiopia and Rwanda, the Media Council of Tanzania, and the University of Antananarivo.

Participants are discussing critical issues facing journalists and media in Eastern Africa, such as press freedom, safety and working conditions of journalists, professional ethical standards, investigative journalism and media as a tool for dialogue and reconciliation. They are divided into four working groups, each focusing on a particular topic:

culture of impunity and justice for journalists;
draconian and criminal defamation laws;
censorship vis-à-vis ethical journalism; and
conducive working conditions for journalists.

This is the first time the Eastern Africa regional commemorations are being held in Zanzibar, a semi-autonomous island that joined the mainland Tanzania in 1964. The status of the island authorises it to have its own media legislation.

In recent years Zanzibar has initiated various changes related to the media and communication legislation. This process includes the preparation of a new media policy focusing on public and community broadcasting. UNESCO has been supporting the government of Zanzibar in this initiative.